Janice Ingalls Eber husband, Kurt, had died suddenly of a heart attack at age 46. One of those attending the funeral was his college roommate, David Markus. David and Janice had dated before she met Kurt and David wasn't ready for a serious relationship so he bowed out and let Janice be overwhelmed by him. Kurt convinced Janice to quit school and become his wife. She allowed Kurt to make all the decisions and never questioned him. She quit school and stayed at home to raise their two children, Stephanie and K.J., Kurt Jr.
Kurt sold insurance and was a partner in the business. He traveled to Chicago quite a bit and Janice never questioned him about it. His partner told her that Kurt was opening an office there. Janice was left to figure out where the were financially and to gather the bills and see that they got paid. Janice had decisions to make regarding the ownership of the business too. She talked with her best friend, Anne, who suggested that she call David, a financial advisor. Kurt and David had stayed in touch and seen each other when Kurt was in Chicago. Janice hadn't see David since college.
David come by to look at the business books and went to Janice's house to talk over what he had found out. He told her that she as in satisfactory shape but some decisions needed to be made rather quickly as to whether she would take over for Kurt, let Tom run the business or buy her out. Janice made the decision to go back to school and learn the business. Her children were in college and had lives of their own. They were satisfied that Janice was going to be okay after their father's death.
Janice continued to go through Kurt's papers and discovered a checkbook that she knew nothing about. The checks were cashed by someone named Dianne Flynn. She later found receipts for an apartment in Chicago and she became concerned that maybe he was having an affair. She went and spoke to her best friend, Anne Kelsey, again and Anne told her that she had found out that her deceased husband had had numerous affairs. Janice just needed to decide what to do with the information she found. Janice thought about calling David and asking him to see if he could locate the woman but decided to wait a bit.
David called Janice a few times to check on her progress. She was happy that she seemed to be doing well in her classes. It was a couple months after his death that he heard about a Winter Carnival in her town and called to ask her if she wanted to go there with him. She accepted and they ended up getting stuck in a snowstorm. Kurt got her home but ended up having to stay the night. They kissed but she would let it go no further.
Janice finished her classes and did well. She got the necessary licenses and worked in the office with Tom. She gave a presentation and kept a big client. She was proud of herself. She called David to tell him what she was done. David told her that he was proud of her and he complimented her as he had begun to do on a regular basis.
Janice finally decided to do something about the information she had found regarding her finances and Kurt. She found out where the apartment was located and called David and told him. David tried to hold back the information that he knew about Kurt because he knew that it would hurt her. He didn't tell her that he knew what she was looking for. He told her to forget about it and move on from Kurt since he was dead.
Janice called Tom and took a few days off of work. She drove to Chicago and talked to the manager of the apartment complex that she had the receipts from. The manager remembered Kurt and told her about him renting the place for a woman. She asked him for a forwarding address and gave her the woman's mail to deliver. Janice went to see her and Diane thought that Janice might be his sister. Janice found out that Kurt had been seeing her for years. She was 22 when they first met to Kurt's 44 years old. They talked and Janice found out that the woman didn't know he was married. Kurt had told her that he couldn't marry her because he couldn't afford to take care of a wife and his sick mother. Janice told her that she was his wife and they had two children. His parents had both died while they were in college. Then Janice met their 2 yr old son, Sammy. Janice had to leave. She drove to David's place in Chicago.
David was surprised and glad to see her. He showed her his home and she paled when he left her outside and a squirrel came to get some nuts from the table. David called the squirrel Sammy. She told David about Diane and found out that he already knew of her. Janice told him about their son, Sammy and he realized why she had such a reaction to the squirrel's name. David told her that he didn't know about the boy. Janice told David that night that she wanted to make love to him and he accepted her offer.
Kurt had been dead for a little over two months at this time and she was seeing David regularly now. She had taken time off of work to clean out their bedroom and get rid of his clothes. Anne was happy to see the progress and stopped by to say hello. She was surprised to see that Janice was doing all the work on the house out of anger. Janice then told Anne about Kurt's girlfriend and son. Anne told her that she thought that Kurt had chosen a woman who made him feel like a hero. With Janice, Kurt was always competing with her family. It wasn't pressure that Janice put on him but rather pressure he put on himself. Anne told Janice that she couldn't blame herself for her husband's failings.
David and Janice continued to see each other and David told Janice that he wanted to marry her but something was holding her back. That was the fact that David was completely opposite of Kurt in that he let Janice make all the decisions. She came to that realization and told him that she wanted a 50/50 relationship. He told her that his wife had died because he wasn't around to take care of her or let her have any say in their lives. He was too busy working. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He told her that she could work wherever she wanted and they would live where she chose. He didn't care whether it was in Tyler or Chicago. They argued about the fact that he was too agreeable.
K. J. and Janice had talked and he told her that he wanted to quit taking business classes and become an artist, a cartoon artist in particular. He called after she had found out about Diane and Janice told him over the phone. She had planned on telling him in person but he told her that after school was over he was going to take a job in Chicago for the summer.
It wasn't too long after that when Stephanie came to see Janice and tell her that she was getting married in June because she was pregnant. She wasn't thrilled about it because she'd had her life mapped out. She was going to get married in two years and work for a year after she finished school. She would then quit to have a couple of kids and spend her time at home raising them. Being pregnant wasn't in her plans. Stephanie was told about Kurt's other family too.
After David and Janice argued about him being too compliant, she went to see Anne. They talked about her going back to school to learn design. She was going to purchase a location for the insurance business rather than rent. She was going to let Tom run the company and maybe eventually buy her out. Anne told her that she needed to have another talk with David and get things straightened out. Janice went home and David was sitting on her front step. He apologized and told her that he would work on making their relationship 50/50. They would learn to work together rather than one or the other making all the decisions. Janice then agreed to marry him.